“After the national elections, SGB elections are the most important voting process in this country. This means there are about eight million adults who can unleash their energies to get the education system to flourish. Not even the Department could match this sort of energy and thus it is important that parents get involved!” Minister Angie Motshekga.

The elections, scheduled for March 1-31, will see parents, teachers and learners in over 24 000 public schools elect candidates who will ensure their schools run efficiently. Newly-elected School Governing Bodies will continue the work of promoting school excellence, ensuring that schools run smoothly and efficiently and that they serve the best interests of communities and expectations of parents. Elections for school SGBs take place every three years.

“A strong SGB powered by an influential parental component renders both plausible and realistic President Jacob Zuma’s undertaking to the nation that “Education will be a key priority” for the nation,” said Minister Motshekga.

“Treating SGB elections as a priority will help us in further improving performance and the quality of passes we get. A careful selection of parents is of paramount importance. Research has shown that learner achievement is dependent also on the level of support and active involvement of parents and members of the community.”

Every school’s SGB is made up of its most important stakeholders: parents; educators; non-teaching staff, learners (Grade 8 or higher) and community members. The term of office is one year for learners and no more than three years for all other members. School principals are automatic members of the SGB.

“We want all SGBs to focus more on proper governance and of course on our core business, learning and teaching. After the recent Annual National Assessments we met with SGBs because we want them to take the lead in knowing the performance of their children and having an active hand in the sort of interventions that are put in place at schools.”

Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Mr Enver Surty, said that SGBs also have an important role to play in ensuring accountability at schools.

“Every school should have a performance plan which the SGBs should play a role in and we are going to monitor the performances of SGBs to see what interventions are put in place at schools,” said Deputy Minister Surty.